


The Paladin Bond

by taylor_tut



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A little comfort, Aftermath of Torture, Angst, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Paladin Bond, Paladins, Torture, lance is a badass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 04:31:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10712235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_tut/pseuds/taylor_tut
Summary: The paladins, all trapped in a prison cell together, are left to imagine what sorts of horrifying torture Lance is undergoing based solely on what they can feel through the paladin bond. The torture/violence is not super graphic, but it's there, so don't read this if that's going to harm you. Angst everywhere.





	The Paladin Bond

“Take me instead,” Lance insisted, grabbing the Galra soldier by the arm. The soldier released their grip on Shiro, who stumbled backward, looking horrified and pale. Hunk supported Shiro while Keith and Pidge watched in gaping-mouthed horror as Lance stepped forward to be tortured by the Galra soldier in front of them.

“It doesn’t matter who we take; we know of the paladin bond,” the soldier spat. Lance paled–fuck. There was no way of sparing Shiro going through this all over again. 

“Lance, you don’t have to–” 

“It’s fine, Pidge,” Lance smiled. “Just–get us out of here as soon as you can, okay?” Pidge nodded.

* * *

The team minus Lance sat chained to the wall in the dungeon, tensing as sympathetic phantom pains ran through their backs. 

“What do you think is happening to him?” Keith asked, wincing against a particularly painful throb. He could tell that Lance was holding back as best he could, but when the pain got too intense and he broke focus, the natural bond that connected them all was free to link their minds more clearly, and the pain intensified in the others.

No one could bring themselves to reply as a few more lashes struck their backs, and they breathed a collective sigh of relief when the pain ceased. 

“Please let them be done,” Hunk breathed, breath hitching and close to tears. Not moments later, dull pressure and pain, blunt and grey, attacked their abdomens, and suddenly the air in the room was more difficult to breathe.

“If they fucking broke his ribs,” Keith muttered, not bothering to finish the sentence, not needing to. 

Painfully, horrifyingly, the sensation of choking overcame the paladins, and despite the forced calm that had blanketed them before, now their collective hearts began to race as panic and desperation kicked in, the fight or flight reflex inside the bodies of five young people who could do neither.

“Lance!” Pidge screeched, rocking back and forth in her cuffs and not caring when she could feel the metal tearing into her skin, “Lance! Let him go! Take me! Come get me! Let him go!” Pidge was crying loudly, Hunk and Shiro softly, and Keith felt numb. 

Suddenly, the pain intensified so sharply that all five of them gasped, doubling over, but then in an instant it was gone. The shared panic had dissipated, leaving room only for their own, and they were quiet for a few moments until they heard approaching footsteps and looked up to see a Galra soldier opening the door to their cell and tossing Lance’s limp body onto the ground like a rag doll before dragging him to ihs own pair of wall-mounted handcuffs.

For a horrifying moment they thought he was dead.

Unfortunately for Lance, he thought, he was not. It was truly unfair how much pain a person could survive. The worried chatter of his friends’ emotions pulled him back to consciousness. 

“He’s waking up!” Shiro observed, his voice sounding rough and tan–had he been screaming? The pain washed over the paladins once more as Lance regained consciousness and a few of them groaned. 

“M’sorry,” he slurred, “Tryin’ to control it.”

“No, Lance,” Hunk reassured, “don’t waste your energy on that. Just–your neck. Can you breathe?” Hunk could feel the sensation of swelling in his own throat, and hear the rugged breathing that Lance was fighting.

“Not super well,” he rasped out.

“What did they do to you?” Keith asked. He wanted so, so desperately to reach out, to touch Lance, to hold him close and assure him that everything would be okay–but Lance was way over there, and Keith’s hands were chained to the wall. 

“Nothing I can’t–” Lance paused to cough harshly, barely even able to retain consciousness to finish his sentence as specks of blood spattered the cobblestone floor beneath him, “–handle.”

The Galra soldier appeared once more, having heard the commotion. “Oh, he’s awake,” he called sardonically to no one in particular. “Ready for round two?” Lance steeled himself and spat a mouthful of blood at his captor’s feet.

“I’m stronger than whatever punch you can throw,” he said, knowing that the other paladins could feel the betraying sense of terror in the back of his mind. The soldier smiled sardonically. 

“We’ll see about that,” he replied amusedly, uncuffing Lance once more.


End file.
